The global financial crisis has swept away the jobs of 200,000 diamond workers
in India, ruining the livelihoods of many who had lifted themselves out of
poverty.

Ashok Khat, 34, was earning £140 a month as a diamond polisher and steadily paying off the £3,000 mortgage he and his family had taken out on their home. Having paid for the weddings of his younger brother and sister, Mr Khat married Usha, a 24 year old divorcee with a baby daughter. He was thinking about establishing his own polishing unit in Surat, the home of India's diamond industry.

But Mr Khat was laid off last September as India's diamond polishing companies were hit by the global recession. As demand in Europe and the United States for luxury goods gave way to thrift and caution, Surat lost 200,000 jobs, devastating the local economy.

On Jan 18, as Mr Khat slept after celebrating his adopted daughter's first birthday, Usha was woken by the sound of her husband coughing and choking. He had poisoned himself with pesticides and died later in hospital.

Mr Khat was among 41 of Surat's former diamond workers who have chosen suicide in the last three months. "He was a lively person who loved spending time with his family, but the situation changed when he lost his job. He talked less," said Usha Khat. "We were sleeping in our room. I woke up at around 2am when I heard Ashok vomiting as his condition deteriorated. I came downstairs, woke my brother-in- law, Jignesh, and rushed to a nearby hospital," she said.

"He didn't discuss it with me, but I know he was worried about the family's future. Looking at the situation of the diamond industry, there was no hope for him to get job in near future. We might need to sell our home. He would have not have been able to witness that."

The first signs of Surat's crisis came in early September when many of the 3,000 large diamond units extended the traditional 25 day Diwali holiday to 45 days. About 70 per cent never re-opened.

Surat, which became India's first English settlement in 1613, was the foremost port of the Raj until it was eclipsed by Bombay. It regained its place as a commercial centre through its diamond polishing industry and today, Surat's population matches Singapore's. Last year, the city's economy grew by 16.5 per cent - faster than anywhere else in India. About 80 per cent of the world's diamonds were polished in Surat.

But the sound of diamond units closing their shutters has been echoed in the local construction industry, where workers building shopping malls have dropped their tools and returned to their villages. The overall growth of India's economy, which had been predicted to reach double figures, has dipped to 7.1 per cent.

While many countries would be happy with any growth, this headline figure disguises millions of stories of human misery in the textiles, steel, chemical and construction industries.

Some two million Indian workers have lost their jobs in the last four months. Mr Khat was luckier than many because, after losing his position at the diamond unit, he managed to find some part-time work to keep going.

In his case, it filled just one day per week. Until the very last, he did his best to save every possible Rupee for his family. "Ashok used to go to the workplace by walking seven kilometres to save the rickshaw fare," said his widow.